Structure and reactivity of single site Ti catalysts for propylene epoxidation

Atomic/molecular layer deposition strategies for enhanced CO2 capture, utilisation and storage materials

Elevated levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere and the diminishing reserves of fossil fuels have raised profound concerns regarding the resulting consequences of global climate change and the future supply of energy. Hence, the reduction and transformation of CO2 not only mitigates environmental pollution but also generates value-added chemicals, providing a dual remedy to address both energy and environmental challenges. Despite notable advancements, the low conversion efficiency of CO2 remains a major obstacle, largely attributed to its inert chemical nature. It is imperative to engineer catalysts/materials that exhibit high conversion efficiency, selectivity, and stability for CO2 transformation. With unparalleled precision at the atomic level, atomic layer deposition (ALD) and molecular layer deposition (MLD) methods utilize various strategies, including ultrathin modification, overcoating, interlayer coating, area-selective deposition, template-assisted deposition, and sacrificial-layer-assisted deposition, to synthesize numerous novel metal-based materials with diverse structures. These materials, functioning as active materials, passive materials or modifiers, have contributed to the enhancement of catalytic activity, selectivity, and stability, effectively addressing the challenges linked to CO2 transformation. Herein, this review focuses on ALD and MLD's role in fabricating materials for electro-, photo-, photoelectro-, and thermal catalytic CO2 reduction, CO2 capture and separation, and electrochemical CO2 sensing. Significant emphasis is dedicated to the ALD and MLD designed materials, their crucial role in enhancing performance, and exploring the relationship between their structures and catalytic activities for CO2 transformation. Finally, this comprehensive review presents the summary, challenges and prospects for ALD and MLD-designed materials for CO2 transformation.

Impact of a polymer modifier on directing the non-classical crystallization pathway of TS-1 zeolite: accelerating nucleation and enriching active sites

The crystallization process directly affects the physicochemical properties and active centers of zeolites; however, controllable tuning of the zeolite crystallization process remains a challenge. Herein, we utilized a polymer (polyacrylamide, PAM) to control the precursor structure evolution of TS-1 zeolite through a two-step crystallization process, so that the crystallization path was switched from a classical to a non-classical mechanism, which greatly accelerated nucleation and enriched active Ti sites. The TS-1 crystallization process was investigated by means of various advanced characterization techniques. It was found that specific interactions between PAM and Si/Ti species promoted the assembly of colloidal precursors containing ordered structural fragments and stabilized Ti species in the precursors, leading to a 1.5-fold shortened crystallization time and enriched Ti content in TS-1 (Si/Ti = 29). The PAM-regulated TS-1 zeolite exhibited enhanced catalytic performance in oxidative reactions compared to conventional samples.

Performance, Reaction Pathway, and Pretreatment of Au Catalyst Precursor in H2/O2 Atmosphere for the Epoxidation of Propylene

Gas-phase epoxidation of propylene in the copresence of H2 and O2 was performed over the catalyst of Au on as-synthesized TS-1 that contained a small amount of anatase TiO2. The catalytic performance was studied by washing or nonwashing the catalyst precursor to modulate the content of purity (K, Cl) and then calcining the samples in O2 or H2 prior to reaction. The results show that the catalytic performance of Au/TS-1 can be improved without washing (more K+ and Au maintained) and O2 pretreatment. It was found that the calcination in O2 was able to maintain more metallic Au and form more surface-active oxygen species and thus providing a better yield of propylene oxide with the assistance of potassium. Interestingly, more acrolein can be produced over the catalysts with respect to the in situ calcination in O2 than that in H2 when the feed only contained 10% O2 and 10% propylene in argon, while there was no formation of propylene oxide. On the other hand, the catalyst precursor calcined in H2 prefers the formation of successive oxygenates of PO.

Manipulating the Conversion Kinetics of Polysulfides by Engineering Oxygen p-Band of Halloysite for Improved Li-S Batteries

Polar oxides are widely used as the cathodes to impede the shuttle effect in lithium-sulfur batteries, but suffer from the sluggish desorption and conversion of polysulfides due to too strong affinity of polysulfides on oxygen sites. Herein, employing halloysite as a model, an approach to overcome these shortcomings is proposed via engineering oxygen p-band center by loading titanium dioxide nanoparticles onto Si-O surface of halloysite. Using density functional theory calculations, it is predicted that electron transfer from titanium dioxide nanoparticles to interfacial O sites results in downshift of p-band center of O sites that promote desorption of polysulfides and the cleavage of Li-S and S-S, accelerating the conversion kinetics of polysulfides. The designed composite cathode material delivers outstanding electrochemical performance in Li-S batteries, outperforming the recently reported similar cathodes. The concept could provide valuable insight into the design of other catalysts for Li-S batteries and beyond.

Tuning the electronic, magnetic, and sensing properties of a single atom embedded microporous C3N6 monolayer towards XO2 (X = C, N, S) gases

2D carbon nitride frameworks have received a lot of attention due to their high potential in many applications, such as gas sensing.

Single-Atom Catalysts across the Periodic Table

Isolated atoms featuring unique reactivity are at the heart of enzymatic and homogeneous catalysts. In contrast, although the concept has long existed, single-atom heterogeneous catalysts (SACs) have only recently gained prominence. Host materials have similar functions to ligands in homogeneous catalysts, determining the stability, local environment, and electronic properties of isolated atoms and thus providing a platform for tailoring heterogeneous catalysts for targeted applications. Within just a decade, we have witnessed many examples of SACs both disrupting diverse fields of heterogeneous catalysis with their distinctive reactivity and substantially enriching our understanding of molecular processes on surfaces. To date, the term SAC mostly refers to late transition metal-based systems, but numerous examples exist in which isolated atoms of other elements play key catalytic roles. This review provides a compositional encyclopedia of SACs, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the introduction of this term. By defining single-atom catalysis in the broadest sense, we explore the full elemental diversity, joining different areas across the whole periodic table, and discussing historical milestones and recent developments. In particular, we examine the coordination structures and associated properties accessed through distinct single-atom-host combinations and relate them to their main applications in thermo-, electro-, and photocatalysis, revealing trends in element-specific evolution, host design, and uses. Finally, we highlight frontiers in the field, including multimetallic SACs, atom proximity control, and possible applications for multistep and cascade reactions, identifying challenges, and propose directions for future development in this flourishing field.

A perspective on oxide-supported single-atom catalysts

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) can not only maximize the metal atom utilization efficiency, but also show drastically improved catalytic performance for various important catalytic processes. Insights into the working principles of SACs provide rational guidance to design and prepare advanced catalysts. Many factors have been claimed to affect the performance of SACs, which makes it very challenging to clarify the correlation between the catalytic performance and physicochemical characteristics of SACs. Oxide-supported SACs are one of the most extensively explored systems. In this minireview, some latest developments on the determining factors of the stability, activity and selectivity of SACs on oxide supports are overviewed. Discussed also are the reaction mechanisms for different systems and methods that are employed to correlate the properties with the catalyst structures at the atomic level. In particular, a recently proposed surface free energy approach is introduced to fabricate well-defined modelled SACs that may help address some key issues in the development of SACs in the future.

Nucleation and Initial Stages of Growth during the Atomic Layer Deposition of Titanium Oxide on Mesoporous Silica

A chemical approach to the deposition of thin films on solid surfaces is highly desirable but prone to affect the final properties of the film. To better understand the origin of these complications, the initial stages of the atomic layer deposition of titania films on silica mesoporous materials were characterized. Adsorption-desorption measurements indicated that the films grow in a layer-by-layer fashion, as desired, but initially exhibit surprisingly low densities, about one-quarter of that of bulk titanium oxide. Electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, UV/visible, and X-ray absorption spectroscopy data pointed to the amorphous nature of the first monolayers, and EXAFS and ²⁹Si CP/MAS NMR results to an initial growth via the formation of individual tetrahedral Ti-oxide units on isolated Si-OH surface groups with unusually long Ti-O bonds. Density functional theory calculations were used to propose a mechanism where the film growth starts at the nucleation centers to form an open 2D structure.

Direct Gas-Phase Oxidation of Propylene to Acetone in the Presence of H2 and O2 over Au/TS-1 Catalyst

A novel process for the preparation of acetone is reported by gas-phase oxidation of propylene in the presence of H2 and O2 with Au supported TS-1 catalyst (Au/TS-1). By elevating the reaction temperature to 280°C, Au/TS-1 catalyzes 11.6% propylene generating acetone with 70.6% selectivity, and 8.2% acetone in onepass yield. Acetone is originated from propylene oxide isomerization, which is mainly attributed to the surface of the Lewis base and high reaction temperature. Furthermore, small Au nanoparticle size promotes the reaction.

Synergetic effect on catalytic activity and charge transfer in Pt-Pd bimetallic model catalysts prepared by atomic layer deposition

Pt-Pd bimetallic nanoparticles were synthesized on TiO₂ support on the planar substrate as well as on high surface area SiO₂ gel by atomic layer deposition to identify the catalytic performance improvement after the formation of Pt-Pd bimetallic nanoparticles by surface analysis techniques. From X-ray absorption near edge spectra of Pt-Pd bimetallic nanoparticles, d-orbital hybridization between Pt 5d and Pd 4d was observed, which is responsible for charge transfer from Pt to Pd. Moreover, it was found from the in situ grazing incidence X-ray absorption spectroscopy study that Pt-Pd nanoparticles have a Pd shell/Pt core structure with CO adsorption. Resonant photoemission spectroscopy on Pt-Pd bimetallic nanoparticles showed that Pd resonant intensity is enhanced compared to that of Pd monometallic nanoparticles because of d-orbital hybridization and electronic states broadening of Pt and Pd compared monometallic catalysts, which results in catalytic performance improvement.

Single atomic site catalysts: synthesis, characterization, and applications

Single atomic site catalysts (SASCs) have attracted great attention in heterogenous catalysis due to their maximized atomic utilization and unique electronic structure. This feature article summarizes the recent contributions of the authors in the synthesis, characterization, and applications of SASCs. Firstly, we disclose the tricks of our recent progress in the synthesis of SASCs, including impregnation of metal precursors on defect-rich supports, pyrolysis of polymer-encapsulated metals and isolation of contiguous atoms by alloying. Then, we show several key characterization technologies to identify the geometric and electronic structure of SASCs, and reveal the advantages and disadvantages of these characterization technologies. Finally, the applications of the SASCs in heterogenous catalysis are presented, which are classified into electrocatalysis and thermocatalysis, and the structure-function relationships are disclosed.